The Knighthood Trials are supposed to be hard. They aren't supposed to be murder...
Abyowith wants to join the Knights of the Exculpatory Order and fight miscreations?the magical creatures plaguing the country. She can ride, shoot, swordfight, and if she has some trouble using magic, well, she expects she can overcome that.
She did not expect to need rescue by the very knights she wanted to join. Or that Marfolio, Captain of the mysterious Royal Stalkers, would take an interest in her. Or that she would fail the Knights' magical ability test.
And she certainly wasn't expecting one of her fellow Initiates to be brutally murdered.
Now, with suspicion falling on her, and her future in the Knights at stake, Abyowith must pass her magic test, learn what the Captain of the Stalkers wants, and discover who is killing the knight-initiates before they come after her...
"A captivating world with an engaging, unconventional heroine. Intriguing, intense and fun!"
?Shirley Meier, author of the Eclipse Court series.
Autorentext
Erik Buchanan started reading at age two and has been hooked ever since. He met the Hardy Boys when he was six, Bilbo Baggins when he was eight, and cried for an hour when he was ten because that really shouldn't have happened to Frodo toward the end of The Two Towers. It was also at age 10 that Erik thought, "maybe I could write a story."
Before he was 12 Erik had attempted a novel, an epic poem in rhyming couplets and various bits of stories. In high school he kept writing, and managed to create an impressive portfolio of maudlin teen-age angst-filled poetry that has thankfully not survived.
It was in his last year of high school, in the creative writing class of Mr. Robert Currie, poet laureate of Saskatchewan and an amazing English teacher, where Erik where he had the first vague notions of "being a writer." He kept writing through university, even as the theatre sunk its teeth and claws into him. He came out of university with a B.F.A., a pair of black belts, and a desire to be on the stage.
Erik moved to Toronto and spent years pursuing (but never quite catching) a career as an actor and a fight director. He wrote his first novel in a small attic room in a downtown rooming house, sitting on a cushion on the floor with his laptop perched on a box in front of him. Shortly after, he wrote Small Magics, which was picked up by Gwen Gades of Canada's Dragon Moon Press. Shortly after that his daughter was born and his writing slowed considerable. Still, he managed to produce "Cold Magics," and finish the trilogy with "True Magics."
Then depression hit.
It took five years on medication before Erik managed to escape the grip of the depression. During that time, he worked as a ghostwriter, penning 10 books and editing others for his clients. He also came up with the idea for the Stalker Chronicles.
Erik still lives and works in Toronto, and looks forward to sharing his new series with everyone.